Elemental
by Five nights at Foxy's
Summary: When James goes to Warfang, he doesn't just meet legends, but he lives the life of one. When he goes on a trip, everything goes wrong when a crystal changes him into something else, not a dragon, not even a creature at all, but an Elemental. With the potential to be better than a legend, drama enters his life and makes him as weak as can be.
1. The Legend

**This is an AU (Alternate Universe), some details may be changed, but the only major changes (other than the OC's and other stuff that makes this a fan-fiction) is the status of the war, it started "normally" until the activity decreased exponentially, leaving them in the same situation in "A New Beginning" when Spyro was found by Ignitus, after that is for the text to explain for itself.**

 **The other, is another guardian, he plays a good role at the start, but may be important later on too.**

* * *

I fly across the plane of mushroom trees, it seems to go on forever, but looking up can easily disprove that, I'm almost there, Warfang may only be a legend to others, but look at this, the temple itself. I'm not that interested in legends, but that's not to say I won't act like a fool in front of them, they are the Guardians of the elements after all.

A strange power wills my attention off to the side, I can't seem to find what I'm looking for, and I can't tell what it is, despite my knowledge in magic. My attention goes to a pathway that loops and curves around various large mushroom trees, I'm thinking about walking instead, but there's no guarantee that it will lead to my destination. My wings ache even though I haven't been flying long, I'm only 23 after all (let me clarify that by saying that we mature about half as fast as you humans), There's no blaming me for... _oof!_

* * *

I wake up, my eyes feel heavy, well, so does the rest of my body, but my eyes mostly, I can barely see, but I can tell I'm inside. I push my front paws under me, and strain to get up, I get a headache and fall down, just realizing that my head is very sore. I feel something brush up against my leg, red healing crystals. Crystals are usually only used as a last resort in most cultures, but I don't want to offend whoever gave me them.

My legs still under me, I extend my wing and push the crystals against me, I begin to absorb them one by one. My body ache leaves first, my muscles regain their strength and drag my legs out. My vision starts to come back, still a bit blurry, my head starts to feel a lot better and a bump I didn't know was there disappears.

The world becomes clearer as I blink and squint. The roof was high, and, classy looking, the room is round, but with large divots in the wall around the room. I'm laying on a blanket in one of the divots with a couple of spare crystals next to me.

Something bugs me though, the pattern on this blanket, the distinct color palette, it can't be, even the material feels odd. The building design supports my theory, I think I made it, this is the temple of the guardians.

My thoughts are interrupted by a door on the far side opening. A dragoness walks out, her skin is black, like mine, it's a little rare, but it doesn't mean much. Her head is stamped with an unknown symbol, and her chest-plate glows pink like the flesh on her wings that stay extended like there's sticks holding them up. What looks like shackles cling to her ankles, her tail, and her neck. The spikes on her wings have been covered with metal. Her horns... horns? The only dragons without horns are black ones, this is peculiar, never-mind, here she comes.

"How are you feeling?"

"Uh, um."

 _Dude, why are you studdering? Stop it._

"Fine, the crystals you gave me worked just fine too."

"Well they should, that's why we have them."

I give her a chuckle, but get lost in her sea blue eyes.

"Um, excuse me?"

"Huh what?"

"What's your name?"

"James."

"I'm Cynder."

 _Cynder, perfect, a play on something to do with fire,_ that _will stop the studdering._

"Th- that's a nice name."

She simply smiles at whatever face I don't know I'm making, but the conversation goes elsewhere.

"What happened out there?"

"I think you hit the wall outside."

My mind suddenly goes to the strange energy I felt, it didn't just go outside my knowledge of magic, but distracted me enough to hit a wall. The door behind Cynder reopened and some dragon walks in, he is _some_ dragon alright, the legendary purple dragon of legend, someone whose existence is only theoretical and has magic of amazing potential, in this land.

Warfang is a legend of not only the keepers of the world, but of a completely different understanding of magic, meaning they have less. They reproduce differently too, they have eggs come by every 10 years, where as the opposite side of the planet, where the mainland is, it's when you've never had kids from normal means, you know what I mean. Oh wait, you don't, we reproduce differently, I'll tell you more later.

Cynder: "That's Spyro."

Me: "Uh, um, yeah."

Spyro: "Hi?"

Me: "Hi."

Spyro: "How are you doing, you doing ok?"

Me: "Yes, yes I am."

 _Nice stride of confidence doofus._

Cynder: "Do you need anything else?"

 _Yeah, some drugs to stop the anxiety attack I've been having._

Me: "If you don't mind, I'd like a place to stay for a while, Warfang kinda burned down."

I'd better come up with an alibi until I can convince them that this island isn't the only thing in existence, I survived the attack in Warfang, that will do fine, good thing that _this_ is the legend I decided to study for a minor, unfortunately that's where the story ends.

Spyro: "Well nothing much has happened since then."

 _Well that was fortunate._

Me: "Sooo... the room?"

Spyro: "We'll have to see what Ignitus says"

Speak of the devil, there he is, followed by 4 others, one by one.

Ignitus: "Has he... oh... are you ok?"

Me: "You... you're one of them, you're... a guardian."

Ignitus: "Yes, and this is the others, Cyril, Terrador, Volteer and Icarus."

 _Well that saved us an awkward introduction._

Ignitus: "Where did you come from?"

Spyro: "James survived the Warfang attack."

Ignitus: "Oh, well, I guess you'll need to stay here then."

 _And an awkward question._

Ignitus: "I'll show you where you'll be staying."

* * *

Upstairs doesn't have that big of a hallway, and only 3 doors, one on the left and one on the right, and judging from the layout of the building, what appears to be the largest room in the building behind the door at the end of the hallway.

Me and Ignitus walk to one of the side doors, Icarus following behind. The room is large on its own, a modest bed, a mirror, and a balcony off to the left, it looks like the balcony belongs to the top of a tall tower in a castle, drapes, intricate carvings, the lot. A chest under some shelves sit in the corner, everything is covered in vines and moss with some small crystals growing in the floor boards.

Ignitus: "If you don't mind the mess, you can stay here."

He leaves, I start to yank off some loose vines from the wall, but Icarus interrupts me.

Icarus: "Um, excuse me?"

His voice is quiet, but confident; his black skin contrasts to mine, and his head, instead of looking suspiciously like a fancy helmet, looks a little more normal, I think that's just because he's an adult, I wouldn't know considering I don't know many grownup black dragons.

Me: "Yes?"

Icarus: "I, need to show you something."

Me: "Um, ok?"

He takes me out of my room towards the door at the end of the hall, despite looking the same from a distance, it looks different compared to the other doors.

* * *

 **I hope you liked the first chapter of this, in fact, this is the first time I wrote something that didn't get straight to the point, so I hope you stick around to see the next ones.**

 **And to those that come from "Hero's tail", I'd like to once more apologize for leaving you waiting for so long, then have the story get taken down, but I promise that this one will be much better.**


	2. The Oracle

**To the guest reviewer Koal, I know that James is a weird name for a dragon, in Warfang, not only will this be explained later, but it would be rude for them to say to someone they think survived one of the worst disasters in their history and has nowhere else to go, and from legends no less, that their name is weird. Also, Icarus is such an exotic name that I thought that the others couldn't tell the difference between them.**

 **I know that suspense is hard to live with, but everything will be explained in due time. Just sit back and enjoy the fan-fiction.**

* * *

 **Last time: _James visits Warfang for the first time, his appearance, although strange, is unquestioned, but Icarus wants to show him something, but what could require such a large room?_**

* * *

Icarus opens the door, the lighting is scarce, I walk in behind Icarus as he makes all the lights in the room brighten, something I've only seen in the Mathewson estate back in the mainland. The room is mostly empty with desks and drawings in the corner, the drawings have a lot of quotes on them from what I can see.

In the center of the room, a giant purplish orb as smooth as a pearl, is suspended by a pedestal made out of a single golden wire. Wooden steps give access to the wooden path wrapped around the orb, Icarus leads me up the steps, taking opposite sides.

Icarus: "This is the Oracle, it helps answer particularly important questions having to do with the future and the importance of what has already happened."

Me: "This is what you do all day."

Icarus: "Sometimes, the others don't know about this, so I don't hang around too long. I used to though, anyways, I'm going to ask it a question, it's kinda related to something it said earlier."

 _The heck? Why am I here, with weirdos like this that sit in a room all day asking questions, I know it's an oracle, but still._

Icarus: "Why is James here?"

 _Does he have nothing better to do, he_ is _in the middle of a war after all, and the only reason I came here is... oh, yes, I remember._

Icarus: " _You must ask the right question_ , I hate it when this happens, did you bring him here for some reason?"

 _Why would something like that happen all the way out here, it doesn't even make sense, and what is it from, if it's not what I think it is, then what is it?_

Icarus: "A bad omen of things to come?"

Me: "Sorry, you were saying something?"

Icarus: "This is strange, it's usually grammatically correct to my question."

I look at the writing in the oracle, " _A bad omen of things to come_? Whatever it means, it doesn't sound good."

Ignitus peers through the doorway, "Icarus, we need you, we're sending Spyro and Cynder off."

Icarus: "Ok, I'll be right there."

Ignitus disappears quickly, before we even start moving.

Me: "Why do you need to be there?"

Icarus: "A number of small reasons that pile up to shutting up and agreeing."

Me: "Amuse me, name a few."

Icarus: "Well for one thing, something could happen that could kill us if only a couple of us are there, not that that would be as big of an issue now. Also, with diverse personalities, it comes easier to resolve issues."

* * *

We get downstairs, and the others are waiting patiently.

Ignitus: "Now that we're all here."

Volteer: "We need you to go out and find out what that disturbance was or is it depends on whether..."

Cyril: "That's enough Volteer."

Spyro: "So where is it?"

Ignitus: "It's along the path out front somewhere."

Me: "An adventure? Can I go?"

What can I say, I have a knack for adventure, and I'm feeling a little more excited to be with a legend now. I don't know why, maybe it's because I had just flew into a wall at top speed.

Terrador: "What, you, an adolescent, that's madness!"

Spyro: "Ahem."

Terrador: "Well, he's... and you're..."

Spyro: "That's fine, if he really wants to go, we can take care of him."

Ignitus: "Thank you Spyro, besides, we have other matters to attend to anyways."

* * *

 **Pathway**

 **Afternoon**

Spyro and Cynder are calmly walking down the pathway, meanwhile, I'm following them, in a fashion that can only be explained as someone who is extremely curious about everything, or a child playing (they are pretty much both right). I start walking beside Spyro.

Me: "So do you this often?"

Spyro: "Not really, things have kinda died down, so, there isn't really much to do."

Me: "Can't you just face them alone, aren't you a legend?"

Spyro: "Yes, a legend, not god."

Me: "But still can't you... what's that?"

Our attention turns to a massive crystal in the middle of a burned circle, it pulsates with red light. It pulls me in, slowly.

Spyro: "Careful I have a bad feeling about that crystal."

Me: "I know a lot about crystals, and almost none of them does anything on touch."

That wasn't a lie, but I've never seen a crystal like this before in my life, which is light-minded considering I'm in front of it already. I could try to see what type of power it has by touching it. I raise my front right paw and start to touch the surface, I mean, what could go wrong?

 **BBSSSSTTZZZZZ**

* * *

 _What was that sound? I walk out of my boat's piloting room, which at this point looks like the den of a mad scientist paying tribute to Satan. Looking out in the distance, a mushroom cloud blooms near the Temple. It's clearly an explosion, but missing rubble, destruction and residual heat around the cloud. Something must be terribly wrong, I was going to walk there later, but I guess it would be better to_ fly _there_ now _, lets go!_

* * *

 **Sorry I haven't been publishing for a long time, and for the short chapter. The chapter was unfortunately short, but the absence was my fault, enjoy and happy reading.**


	3. Ignition

**Tada! I'm not dead! I've been very busy, but here it is, lets see what happened to James.**

* * *

 _Previously: James visits the island of legend, but gets a little cocky, discovering that not all crystals remain dormant when touched._

* * *

Nothing, there is nothing, if I'm still alive, I am all blind, deaf, without taste or touch, or brain. My memory is the only thing left.

 _...what could possibly go wrong?"_

A lot apparently. I don't know what that implies though, I can't think properly.

Dots, I can see dots. Well not really _see,_ but I can sense them, like glowing orbs in the middle of oblivion. I think my thought is coming back, the dots, they are arranged in 2 lines, that much I can observe, except for a big one, in, the middle? I think it might be me, I can feel it, a glowing radiance emanating from within me, a great warmth, like none I have felt before, except...

I think I remember a plane like this, the Ether, where mana and flux resides. I'm in the Ether? That doesn't make sense (as far as I can tell), it's like, like, a physical body going to heaven, or, a creature using air as blood, like changing the value of pi.

Unless I'm a spirit.

Scratch that, I think I can sense something physical, a strange shape where my energy is coming from, _that's_ me. But how can I only see the Ether?

I try moving, but the heat (heat, that's what the energy is) just shakes. I try harder, the heat is elastic to me. Try, try again; _the lines are parallel to each other._ I fall off onto the floor (from what?). I think I have my logic back. I try to see what senses I can get back. I think hard on sight, on what I have seen, what I should be able to see.

And just like that, a blurry vision, but it'll have to do for now. I'm inside, the same plain stone walls of the temple, the dots turn into flames, which turn into torches, a row for each side of the hall I'm in. The hallway is filled with artifacts: pots, armor, even a statue made out of crystal.

* * *

After a couple minutes of recuperating, I was able to mold my flame into shapes with great detail in front of a mirror. My next trick is to create a replica of myself, before whatever happened, happened. I think back at the many years - I am never going to be a dragon again; this is who I am now, a flame, no matter how much I try, I'll never be the same, just a reflection of who I used to be. The strands of smoke can weave together to make a faux skin, but the variances are glaring.

I have fire for a body, and a glowing red cover as an outer layer, the eyes are similarly fake, red instead of the usual light-green, but it'll have to do, I need to find out what happened.

* * *

I could see the moving heat-signatures from many rooms away, even through walls. Everyone else is here, sleeping, I have no need for sleep. Cynder is, however, awake, slowly making her way to the front door, stepping around the others as she passes. She passes through the front door, and me beside it.

Her life-signs tell me a story: she's definitely upset about something, it isn't something new, and she's probably out here to clear her head. If she were any more sad, she'd burst out into tears, although something tells me she already did that.

I have to say something. "Hello Cynder." my voice somber in tone.

She darts her startled head around, "James?!", she steps forward and stops when I step into better light. " _James?"_

"I know, I'm glowing red."

"Well, not glowing, just a little red."

I look down, she's right, it's a little better. She looks me up and down, but quickly moves on. "Where were you?"

I'm not quite sure myself, but from what I've pieced together, I touched the crystal, turned into a crystal – which is now located in the stomach of my faux-body – and can now manipulate fire as if I'm a natural born fire-bender.

I collapse my lower chest and stand on my 'hind-legs', a whirlwind of fire and smoke spin around the crystal which gleams brightly in the moon-light along with the intense red light.

"Is that?"

"Me, I've turned into a, well, you can see."

"So what's..."

"It's a fake body, but it's still the same me, I think."

Her life-sign fluctuates with fear, the fear you feel when you are confronted with an abomination, the shadows from your nightmares, or someone else that you just desperately want to have never existed. Definitely not the greatest idea to go straight to showing who I am, to what I've become, if I can't find a way to go back to normal, this is the reaction I'll have to get used to.

* * *

" _Damn it!" I scream, the gods don't seem to be cooperating at the moment, ever since the goddess of time met me, none of the other gods have been paying attention to me._

 _Or maybe it's the voyage, maybe the hard-wood floor is lacking in integrity, despite how many times I checked it. I look over the pentagram again, maybe it just needs to be on solid ground. I look in the hand-book again, "There must be something I missed."_

* * *

 **In case you haven't noticed, that last paragraph (before the italics flashback) signifies a new chapter in James' life, a pit of depression and calling himself a monster, if there is anything you want to suggest, speak up, I love suggestions!**


End file.
